‘Put your big girl pants on,’ NC sheriff told deputy who made sexual misconduct complaint
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A 22-year-old female sheriff’s deputy became the target of a 62-year-old male deputy’s sexual comments, she told her supervisor four months after she started.
The man was fired, she was told. Then he walked into the courthouse where she worked, still wearing a Rowan County Sheriff’s Office uniform.
She went to the sheriff for answers. She got them — and more.
Sheriff Travis Allen told the deputy he believed her, but his response to her questions landed him under scrutiny when an audio clip of their conversation was posted on social media.
“If you’re gonna be a patrol officer, you’re gonna have to sometimes put your big girl pants on…” he told the female deputy. “You can’t be offended of anybody, because if you do, you’re gonna have a very short career in this field.”
The female deputy’s documentation of her experiences — from stares, comments and texts to Allen’s responses — offers a look into how a small-town sheriff handled reports of sexual misconduct. Survey data suggests her experiences are not isolated.
The female deputy confirmed to The Charlotte Observer that she made a written complaint and the recording, both of which were originally posted to social media without her knowledge. She said she put in her two weeks notice the day after her conversation with the sheriff. Before joining Allen’s office as a 21-year-old, she said, she had only ever worked as a camp counselor.
The female deputy declined to do a full interview and asked to remain anonymous.
Rowan County, about 40 miles northeast of Charlotte, is small, she said. Most people in the sheriff’s office and the courthouse already knew about her complaint and conversation with Allen — a first-term sheriff elected in 2022.
But she found a new job in law enforcement, she said, and she doesn’t want her name to be publicly associated with the incident.
The Charlotte Observer reviewed the July report she turned in to her supervisor detailing what happened with the deputy, Coyt Karriker. The Observer also obtained a recording of her full conversation with Allen and later interviewed both him and Karriker.
In a phone call with the Observer, Karriker said the female deputy’s claims were “unfounded” and did not tell the whole story. They were a “personal attack just on me,” he said without elaborating.
Allen, in an early December hour-long interview with the Observer, reflected on the conversation.
“It’s wrong, you know, I shouldn’t—,” he said. “I don’t know if you’d say ‘wrong’ is the right word. I think I’ve learnt my lesson now: Don’t be nobody’s dad. You know what I mean? Don’t try to be somebody’s parent.”
Complaint alleges sexual comments, unwanted hugs in office
It all started when Karriker, a part-time deputy making $24 an hour, asked for the female deputy’s number shortly after she joined the force in April, according to her complaint.
He had worked there since March and was previously chief at the Rowan County Rescue Squad.
According to the female deputy’s complaint, Karriker started messaging her at 11 p.m., but she’d ignore it. He routinely asked her for a hug, and she’d quickly wrap and unwrap one of her arms around him.
When she needed a new uniform, Karriker was tasked with finding one that would fit her. Inside that uniform room, according to the deputy’s complaint, Karriker unleashed a wave of sexual comments:
“I was trying to be nice and keep it professional but Coyt kept making comments saying if I was his, I wouldn’t have to work, and didn’t I want him to take care of me and pay my bills,” the deputy wrote.
“He then kept mentioning that if I would say yes to him that I could be going to vacation with him and that he had a place at the beach and a timeshare in the mountains.
“Coyt told me [he] had ladies that wanted him both [in] civil and criminal clerk’s office but that he was holding off waiting for me.”
The deputy wrote that she repeatedly mentioned that she had a boyfriend, changed the topic and asked for the uniform. When Karriker — who was nearly three times her age — finally gave her one, he lingered in the room.
“He just kept looking at me and said that he could stay in the room to help me change,” the deputy wrote in her complaint.
He eventually stepped out. When he returned, according to the complaint, he said “Your ass looks good in those pants.” Then he tried to put a new belt around her waist and a tie around her neck.
“I told him that I can do it and that I got it,” she wrote.
He reportedly insisted that he adjust the belt and button her top.
“He didn’t let go,” the deputy wrote. “He looked at me and stated ‘I hope me being this close to your neck doesn’t get you too excited.’”
She turned away. He left again. And when he came back “he stopped me and asked me if he could give me a kiss.” She declined, repeating that she had a boyfriend. He asked for a hug instead and told her she “smelt good.”
She left the room trying not to cry, her complaint said. She wrapped up some work, according to the complaint, then sat in her car.
Tears ran down her face. A stress rash crawled up her chest and neck. She could smell Karriker’s cologne on her.
She had a panic attack, she wrote. Later that night, the deputy told her boyfriend what happened. After continued comments from Karriker, she submitted her complaint to her supervisor, who worked below the sheriff.
Allen, talking to the female deputy in his office, said Karriker’s actions were a “non-assaultive offense.”
“I mean, he didn’t force himself onto you. He didn’t grab you or anything like that,” he said.
“He buttoned my shirt, he put his hands around my waist,” the deputy replied.
“OK,” Allen said. “You consider that a sexual assault? I guess you could… but that would mean you having to go to the magistrate.”
Allen later told the female deputy he has “no tolerance” for “sexual behavior” in his office and likened her experience to that of his own daughter, who works in a similarly male-dominated field as an airline pilot. He said: “Ladies, they have to be tougher than men… and I hate that.”
“I don’t want to be inappropriate either,” Allen said, “but you’re not an ugly person, right? You’re an attractive young lady. You carry yourself well. You’re a professional lady. So you’re going to attract attention and you’re going to get good attention and bad attention.
“So you need to prepare to do exactly what you’ve done… report it, but be stronger than it is… I ain’t your daddy, I don’t know how to tell you this stuff… but you, you’re gonna have to guard yourself against it to make yourself stronger.”
Rowan County sheriff responds to deputy’s questions about discipline
The sheriff told the female deputy that he let Karriker keep his uniform but took him off the payroll and took his gun and access to the office.
About halfway through the female deputy’s recorded 30-minute conversation with Allen, she lays out her grievance with how the sheriff handled the situation:
“Allowing him to wear that uniform,” the female deputy told Allen during the September meeting in his office, “you’re allowing him to represent you and this place, even though he has this history and this pattern… It shows to the other females… it brushes off what he did.”
Allen earlier in the recorded conversation acknowledged that other women had made “complaints” against Karriker. Those women, according to Allen, later said the complaints were “minor to them.”
Allen also explained that Karriker’s status was similar to that of a retired officer, meaning he could keep his uniform.
“Someone could have at least communicated with me to tell me, ‘Hey, he’s gonna be here,’” the female deputy told Allen.
“I hear what you’re saying, alright,” Allen replied, “but if you’re gonna be a patrol officer, you’re gonna have to sometimes put your big girl pants on.”
“And I understand that—,” the deputy started.
“Cause you know how many times you’re gonna be called a slut and a bitch and everything else out on the street?” Allen continued. “You’re gonna be talked about. They’re gonna grab you. They’re gonna talk about your body. You realize that’s coming?”
“And I understand that—,” she said again.
“You can’t run from that. You can’t be afraid—,” Allen said.
“And I’m not—,” she said.
“You can’t be offended of anybody,” Allen told her. “Because if you do, you’re gonna have a very short career in this field.”
Allen had read the deputy’s July complaint before the meeting, he told her. In it, she wrote: “I didn’t want to bring any negative light my way… I didn’t want this to affect my career negatively. So I kept it to myself.”
Sheriff’s explanation for his comments
In his interview with the Observer, Allen said he felt “90% of this conversation is an encouraging conversation” and that “90% of my comments to this young lady are positive.” He was trying to encourage her “to be strong, to be tough,” he said.
When Allen told the deputy “you’re going to have to put your big girl pants on,” he said he was referring to being “out on the street,” not about sexual harassment in the workplace.
“My heart and my intention is to always protect my people,” he said. “And I do have a soft spot for our young officers. I want them to survive this career.”
Karriker told the Observer he made the decision to retire in October. When asked in a second phone call how he retired, who he spoke to or who he sent a message to announcing his resignation, Karriker hung up.
Allen told the Observer that Karriker was “removed from paid duty” in July, 24 hours after the young deputy reported him, and he never worked another day in a paid capacity. Rowan County Human Resources records show Karriker’s last day worked was July 26, but he was not separated from his employment until October 17.
“It took away something that he ... had pride in,” Allen told the female deputy, explaining that Karriker had no gun, car or building access – only the uniform. “He hates me now. His family hates me now…So I’m getting it from both ends now, because you ain’t happy, and he ain’t happy.”
Allen told the deputy Karriker did not work for the sheriff’s office in any way. He was removed from paid duty, but he still had his certification as a deputy. That allowed him to keep his uniform.
“If he would have admitted to it and I could prove it 100%, [the uniform] would be gone as well,” Allen told the female deputy. “But I felt that that was a good compromise… I had two people saying opposite things… though I believe one and I don’t believe him… so I went 90% on punishment and 10% on leniency.”
Deputies retrieved Karriker’s uniform, said Allen’s chief deputy, Jason Owens, after Allen’s meeting with the female deputy.
According to a 2021 U.S. Department of Justice survey, 71% of female law enforcement officers and 41% of male officers experienced non-physical workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault. A 2022 NBC News report revealed that officer-on-officer abuse lawsuits cost taxpayers more than $40 million in payouts in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago sheriffs’ offices and police departments.
Allegations first unraveled on Facebook
A series of October Facebook posts made by Josh Harrington, a Rowan County police dog breeder, originally posted the deputy’s report and the clip of the recorded conversation. In recent months, Harrington has continued posting a variety of complaints about what he says is misconduct in the sheriff’s office.
The series prompted Allen in October to issue a unique and religion-rooted public statement on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
In it, Allen said: “I don’t usually comment on negative hate speech from individuals on facebook… after much prayer i have decided how to respond.”
“I am not a crooked Sheriff nor is my administration. I will never tolerate criminal activity in my office ever!” Allen wrote in response to Harrington’s social media posts. “I live my life to try and honor my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… I have thought about how to respond to your false claims against me… Should I sue for slander? Should I blast you online? That is what my flesh wants to do. However, that is not what the Holy Spirit is impressing on me to do.
“I have simply decided to say that I forgive you. I forgive you. I pray that God gives you peace and contentment. I pray that He helps and gives you wisdom to see and tell the truth in all things.
“I know you will some how twist this to use against me but the Lord has pressed me to relay this message to you so do with it as you wish. I will go to sleep tonight with peace in my heart knowing I have done as he has instructed me to do.”
Observer staff writer Jeff A. Chamer contributed to this story.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
